<p>Being Asian is beneficial when applying to LACs. But how helpful is it when applying to Amherst College, which is 10% Asian? 10% is pretty low for the Asian population compared to that at other top colleges. Also, does anyone know what percentage of Asian applicants are accepted at Amherst, and what the yield is? Is being an Asian male even more advantageous?</p>
<p>Very interested in knowing this. A friend and I have been discussing this today.</p>
<p>“10% is pretty low for the Asian population compared to that at other top colleges.”</p>
<p>Amherst lacks familiarity among Average Joes. Asian Mom and Asian Dad can’t shamelessly name-drop LACs like Amherst in the marketplace and in the mall, and at family reunions. Therefore: “NO YOU ONLY APPLY TO IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL DON’T TALK TO ME UNTIL YOU DOCTOR.”</p>
<p>“Also, does anyone know what percentage of Asian applicants are accepted at Amherst, and what the yield is?”</p>
<p>Even students aren’t privy to this kind of information.</p>
<p>“Is being an Asian male even more advantageous?”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www3.amherst.edu/~instdata/pdfs2007/Opening%20Enrollments.pdf[/url]”>http://www3.amherst.edu/~instdata/pdfs2007/Opening%20Enrollments.pdf</a></p>
<p>Here’s some data. If you glance at it, you’ll see that black, Hispanic, and Asian women outnumber their male counterparts (you’ll also see that white men outnumber white women significantly…). You can draw your own conclusions.</p>
<p>"Amherst lacks familiarity among Average Joes. Asian Mom and Asian Dad can’t shamelessly name-drop LACs like Amherst in the marketplace and in the mall, and at family reunions. Therefore: ‘NO YOU ONLY APPLY TO IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL DON’T TALK TO ME UNTIL YOU DOCTOR.’ "</p>
<p>hahahahhahahahaha… roflcopter… :)</p>
<p>It’s a little pointless to discuss the merits and detriments of being Asian in a vacuum. The implications of race are arbitrary. I don’t believe that the admissions office releases any figures relating to the acceptance rates for the various races because such statistics are very prone to misinterpretation. If you’re an Asian male with an interest in dance for example, you might be admitted for the fact that you’re a male student with an interest in dance instead of the fact that you’re a male Asian. More realistically however, you might be admitted because it’s hard to find an Asian male dancer. An otherwise equal Asian male whose ECs are focused around say mathematics and science might have a more difficult time getting admitted. In both cases, even with highly qualified Asian males as a constant, the uniqueness of each applicant is a far more important determinant of admissions.</p>
<p>I think to open that link you need an amherst id. Care to paste any info onto here?</p>
<p>Being ANYTHING can be beneficial when you’re applying to colleges. I think you’re taking an overly simplified approach to college admissions. Surely, you can’t just bank on your ethnicity and gender when you’re applying to colleges. You need the GPA, SAT scores and the essays to get in.</p>
<p>I think KWU’s response pretty much nails it. ■■■■■ “No you only apply to Ivy league school…” Haha!</p>
<p>OBVIOUSLY there are other factors. But I am interested in statistics because I am interested in demographics of the school and of the application pool. May not interest you at all but it interests me.</p>
<p>As an Asian applicant myself, I too have a vested interest and I don’t intend to belittle your awareness of the admissions process. That said, I hope you can rationally see why it wouldn’t be in a college’s best interest to publish admissions rates by racial group. You can be interested all you like but I doubt that you’ll find the statistics to satisfy your curiosity.</p>
<p>FYI: Being Asian is not considered being a minority. I don’t see how it can significantly help you in college admissions. Sure, colleges want to diversify their campuses. But, that being said - Asians aren’t a minority.</p>
<p>At least one Asian has reported acceptance to Amherst’s Diversity Open House Weekend… however, that Asian student may have been low-income or first-generation.</p>
<p>Of Amherst’s peers, I know for a fact that Middlebury and Swarthmore recruit otherwise unhooked Asian students through expenses-paid diversity visits (pre-application, during senior fall).</p>
<p>@miss_murd3r: Asians are not minorities at most of the large research institutions (in fact, they might be a little overrepresented) but the idea of attending LACs doesn’t seem to be as wildly popular among the Asian community yet. I imagine LACs would want to avoid ‘losing out’ on any talent among the pool of Asian college applicants and therefore pursue more aggressive recruitment tactics. All this is idle speculation though.</p>
<p>Guess we’ll have to wait till this Friday to find the answer to this.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well yes, Asian Americans are still considered minorities. They’re not underrepresented minorities and therefore will not help you in the admissions process. I know I’m splitting hairs here but some people (not you, MM, I know you meant URM) seem to think Asian Americans are not subjected to any type of discrimination because of their ethnicity.</p>
<p>I thought Asian was BAD BAD BAD for admissions :-/</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There’s a distinction between (a) having your decision influenced by a multitude of factors one of which may be ethnicity and (b) being able to say solely on the basis of an applicant’s ethnicity (in non-URM cases) that with a ceteris paribus assumption he/she is more likely to be accepted than an applicant of another ethnicity. In other words, non-URMs are not subjected to any discrimination solely because of ethnicity.</p>
<p>^Sorry, srrinath, I should have been more clear, I meant discriminated against in daily life, in any other context besides applying for college.</p>
<p>I am an Asian female from California, and I attended DiVOH last fall before receiving an early write from Amherst a few weeks ago. I don’t think your race really puts you at a huge disadvantage (or any, for that matter). It’s about who you are, what you would bring to the school regardless of your background.</p>
<p>u59slf, what divoh term did you go to?</p>
<p>I think that u59slf is right. My asian friend attended DiVOH and he is one of the most amazing people I know. I think that he’s going to get an acceptance letter in the mail later today not because he applied to a LA college being an asian male but because of who he is and how he could contribute to Amherst.</p>
<p>September. They did a great job w/DiVoh. I was sold.</p>